Philosophy (Witt) and Communications (Lillie)

Blade Runner is known to be one of the most famous movies in the genre of science fiction of all time. The readings discuss the blurred lines between artificial human and human which we both observed in the movie. Another part of the reading that we found interesting was the discussion on the character of Rachel. People believe that the film is male-dominated so the character of Rachael introduces the idea of feminism.

We believe that the movie is an excellent representation of the genre science fiction bringing light to many interesting themes, such as artificial intelligence. For being made in 1982, the amount of special effects is very impressive.The movie was based on Philip K Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? so it was very relevant at the time. This movie continued a serious idea that Dick’s novel presented while providing entertainment to people.The film is visually breathtaking, imaginative and years ahead of it’s time (takes place in 2019). This movie provides a look into our future which is enticing to people.

We think the movie is commenting on our use of technology and how our use of technology relates to ethics. We think the movie is supposed to make the viewer question how far do we go with technology? When is too far? The movie presents an extreme use of scientific/technological growth in cloning human beings programming them to have emotion and have extreme strength. Although these replicants have emotion and act like humans do… are they really human? Our answer to this question is no, because they are programmed to be this way. They are not naturally like this as true humans are. The film does an excellent job posing this highly debated question.

The question of what makes us human is still a very important question today and always will be. We are constantly adapting as a society with an increased influence of technology. However, it is important for us to always distinguish humans from technology. We are not machines.